a
slow dignified step approaching, she snatched up her work and began to
sew busily.

Godfrey seated himself at a little distance from his cousin, opened his
book and began to read, but every now and then he peeped over the edge
of it, either because he had read it before, or because he was thinking
of something else. That is always the way with Methodistical divinity
students even when they firmly believe what they teach. _Before_ the
examination they think of nothing but their spiritual calling, but
_after_ the examination is well over human nature regains its sway, and
they look out for a fitting wife, before they begin to think of a
parsonage. Godfrey was like all the rest of his kind, and as no other
girls except Mina and Lina had come in his way, and as Lina attended to
his admonitions far more docilely than her sister, he determined to make
her his helpmate. He was ignorant as to how such matters ought to be
conducted, and felt a little shy and awkward. He had got no further in
his wooing than pressing his lady-love's foot under the table, and
whenever he had done so he was always much more confused than Lina,
whose foot had received the pressure.

However he had determined that the whole matter should be settled that
day, so he began: "I brought this book out entirely for your sake, Lina.
Will you listen to a bit of it just now?" "Yes," said Lina. "What a slow
affair it's going to be," thought Braesig, who could hardly be said to be
lying on a bed of roses, his position in the cherry-tree was so cramped
and uncomfortable. Godfrey proceeded to read a sermon on Christian
marriage, describing how it should be entered into, and what was the
proper way of looking upon it. When he had finished he drew a little
nearer his cousin and asked: "What do you think of it, Lina?" "It's
very nice," said Lina. "Do you mean marriage?" asked Godfrey. "O-oh,
Godfrey," said Lina, her head drooping lower over her work. "No, Lina,"
Godfrey went on drawing a little closer to her, "it isn't at all nice. I
am thankful to see that you don't regard the gravest step possible in
human life with unbecoming levity. Marriage is a very hard thing, that
is to say, in the Christian sense of the word." He then described the
duties, cares and troubles of married life as if he wished to prepare
Lina for taking up her abode in some penal settlement, and Braesig, as he
listened, congratulated himself on having escaped such a terrible fate.
"Yes," Go